Chuushin
by Honor of Defiance
Summary: The war between Angels and Daemons has gone on for as long as anyone can remember. No one knows why they fight now. But is either side truly in the right or wrong? Or is it really just a matter of perspective? Discontinued. See chapter 4 for why.
1. Prologue

Hi everyone! This is the first thing I've ever posted on this site, so please don't give me funny looks when it doesn't quite come out the way it's supposed to. Anyway, the rating is M for a reason, okay? There will definitely be lime and probably lemons. Other mature themes do occur, I'll warn you in that chapter when it comes. Solid pairings are Axel/Roxas, Riku/Sora, Demyx/Zexion, some Leon/Roxas, and Cloud/Zack. Everything else is open for debate!

Just so I can make sure I've been perfectly clear: there is yaoi. Male/male relationships. Maybe yuri, female/female relationships. There will be explicit content. There will be swearing. There will be adult themes. This is not a run in and save the world, everybody's happy fic. I will not write crap where the characters have sex within three hours of meeting each other. There are very few scenarios in which that is even close to likely to occur. I will try to keep them in character, but there are some points where I may not completely succeed with some of the characters.

Most chapters will also be considerably longer than this one. This is only the prologue, after all.

The story will occasionally be told from Roxas's POV, but will usually be in third person after this.

If you have any comments or questions, there's a little blue button at the bottom of the screen.

**_Click it._**

Otherwise, have a nice day, and keep in mind that if mommies come after me with sharp things because you failed to read the above warning, it is not my fault, it's yours! Again, have a nice day!

-Azami-chan

P.S.- _**I do not own Kingdom Hearts.**_ If I did, that game would be rated T+ at least. And I would not be writing fanfics in my spare time.

And hell yes, half the people would be gay. What kind of author do you think I am?

* * *

_Angel_. 1) a spiritual being superior to humans in power and intelligence. 2) an attendant spirit or guardian. 3) messenger, harbinger.

_Daemon_. 1) an attendant power or spirit. 2) a supernatural being of Greek mythology intermediate between gods and men.

So what is the real difference between daemons and angels?

As far as I can tell, it all depends on perception and culture. Are Angels really the embodiment of good, and Daemons the personification of evil?

Why doesn't this seem right?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not involved in the war in any way—my people are decidedly neutral in this mess. We're one of the last places Angels and Daemons can peacefully coexist, actually.

But that doesn't mean we don't have the same stories as the rest of the universe, and some of the same prejudices. It's just not out in the open or escalated into a war yet. For example, everybody knows that it's easier for Angels to get jobs on one side of town while Daemons can get them easier on the other side. But Sekai Heionbuji is still one world, not divided into factions because of the war. Part of this may be because we have the largest population of humans that have stayed neutral to keep the collective Angel/Daemon heads on straight. I suppose we humans are good for something besides free entertainment.

Angels and Daemons alike have incredible abilities, and are sometimes so intelligent it's frightening. Most are just like very athletic, intelligent humans, so we get along pretty well. But sometimes there's the odd Angel or Daemon with special abilities.

Most humans know to steer clear of _them_.

It's made a lot easier by the fact that the ones with special abilities tend to stay in their little groups, and there aren't that many. Most of the time the special ability is very weak, or only partially present, and it never gets stronger or fully activates.

Then you have the ones with the real abilities. The infamous blinding intelligence and incredible athleticism, plus the extras.

Like creating fire, or controlling water, or summoning portals.

The ones keeping this war going.

You see, the majority of the war is just threats and moving people around. If that was all it was, though, it wouldn't qualify as a "war," just a politically retarded government stunt. What makes it a war is the fight between the ikkitousen,or matchless warriors, with tokushusei, or special characteristics.

It's gotten better since the war officially started. At first, it was a slaughter on both sides. So many of the worlds got involved…but now it's down to minor skirmishes every now and then.

It feels strange, though, even here on a neutral world. Like a storm about to break. Why is that? The war's been slowly dying down, enough to where the optimists are hoping for a peace treaty within the next year.

I never believe them. Not with Organization XIII around, anyway.

Organization XIII is the main group of Daemons that fights in the war. They take over worlds one at a time and make them dependent on the Organization, so that if the Angels ever get to that world and make them leave, the world goes into crisis. The Angels do the same thing, really, but they are more subtle about it. Their people also aren't quite so…conspicuous. But everyone knows the Angels' names, and nobody knows the Organization's.

Perhaps I should explain a bit.

Organization XIII, to the best of my knowledge, is made up of thirteen Daemons—thus the name. All of them are tokushusei-ikkitousen. No one knows their real names, but if anyone were curious they could find out what most of their codenames, weapons, and tokushusei were. For instance, I know that their rankings are as follows:

The Superior, weapon and tokushusei unknown.

The Whirlwind Lancer, six lances and wind manipulation. Lances can transform into a dragon that attacks with whirlwinds. A rather unimaginative name, though.

The Free-shooter, gun arrows and space manipulation. He also controls a form of demon that functions as a sniper.

The Chilly Academic, various experiments/large shield stopping any frontal attacks and ice manipulation.

The Silent Hero, a giant tomahawk and earth manipulation.

The Cloaked Schemer, a lexicon and illusions.

The Luna Diviner, a claymore. This one draws power from the moon and uses it to control actual demons. Not Daemons, demons. Same pronunciation, completely different things.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames, a pair of chakrams and fire manipulation. I always thought this one was ridiculously flamboyant. I mean, come on. Flurry of Dancing Flames? Not only is that the longest codename in the bunch, it sounds like something a little kid would pick for a name. A little _girl_. If I had to guess at the genders of the Organization, most of them would be guys, but this one I'm sorry to say would probably be a girl. Flurry doesn't show up where I can find them very often, though, so I can't really tell from their fighting style or anything. Annoying little bastard. Turns up on virtually every world at least once but no one can ever see more than a blurry outline, the chakrams, and fire.

The Melodious Nocturne, a sitar and water manipulation. I thought this one was a little odd, myself—a sitar? As a weapon? But I got some footage of him in a fight and stopped wondering. It wasn't even a thirty-second clip, but believe me, it was enough. I personally thing he let himself get taped….especially since at the end of it he posed and grinned. Maybe he does this at the end of all his fights, but I rather doubt it.

The Gambler of Fate, a deck of cards and time manipulation. This was another one that I was skeptical of up until I saw him in action. This bastard's damn scary.

The Graceful Assassin, a scythe. Tokushusei unknown.

The Savage Nymph or Callous Vixen, eight knives, four in each hand, and thunder manipulation. She's well-known for leaving her victims alive, but only just. They tend to live long enough to tell who attacked them and what she looked like before they die. No longer. Not even the best can ever save them, and Kami-sama knows they've tried. The autopsy reports when they came back were…not pretty, to say the least.

The last one is known only as Xion. Only as much is known about her as it is about Superior, although there's a rumor that she died in the last battle after turning traitor and the Organization is now looking for someone known as the Key of Destiny so they can keep their ranks. But until I have solid proof, I'm not really willing to believe that. Organization members aren't exactly easy to kill, and they don't switch sides. Their infamous loyalty to their cause is part of what makes the Organization XIII.

The people fighting for the Angels are also incredibly loyal. Most of them are Keyblade Masters. Sora, the youngest of the group, is very difficult to not like. This tends to win brownie points for the Angels on their worlds. Even though he has a reportedly open and cheerful personality, however, I've come to understand that he is the best fighter of the group. It's completely at odds with his gentle personality. I don't know him, but I know people that do, and I understand that he will go out of his way to find a way for peace and not fight. But if he must fight, he will do so, especially to protect his friends and others.

Riku is another Angel with a cool, distant personality and good looks that tend to win more brownie points for the Angels. From what I know of him, he will do damn near anything if it means protecting Sora.

Ansem the Wise is a rather mysterious character that I don't really know much about—most of what I've heard is just rumor and has nothing to do with the actual person. Of all of them, he's the most human, making human mistakes and with human flaws, but getting over it in his own way and continuing to help the best he can. He seems to be the emotional stabilizer of the group, and not really much of one for fighting. I know he also acts as a medic.

Namine and Kairi are twins, Namine being the blue-eyed blonde of the two and Kairi being a green-eyed redhead. Namine uses a special power through her drawings to manipulate memories and occasionally real-world events, while Kairi wields a Keyblade given to her by Sora. The girls are generally there for political events, though, and don't really fight much. But when they do, they can be more than a little scary as a team.

Zackary Fair and Cloud Strife are also a team. One is rarely seen without the other in a fight. They use similar styles with the Buster Swords, although they do differ severely in some areas, and both were formerly in a SOLDIER program. Meaning they can, at will, become nearly five times stronger than they already were. Stronger, faster, the whole works. But apparently this exhausts them if they use it for too long or too often. Somehow, Cloud is also Sora's older brother. They're complete opposites, though, so Sora is Sora and Cloud is Cloud, not Sora's older brother or Cloud's younger brother.

Reno and Vincent are both former TURKs. They occasionally work together, but tend to prefer solo work. Reno uses and Electro-Magnetic Rod as his weapon, and since he designed it himself, I can't say I'm surprised. It will only work for him anyway. He tends to pretend to be a bit of an idiot and an asshole, and surprisingly most people actually fall for that stunt. I think he works with Vincent, when he works with anyone, because the gunman saw through the act almost immediately.

Vincent Valentine, as I mentioned, uses guns as his main weapons. Don't ask me what kind. He uses every kind. Any kind. Although he does have his custom-made ones…his accuracy alone is enough to make him a bit intimidating. Add that to how he looks like death incarnate/vampire, come to take your soul, and his odd…ah, how to put this…demon troubles, and even the Organization members wouldn't want to find him on a bad day. He's also frighteningly intelligent and very perceptive. Not that they all aren't, but they do a better job of not scaring people shitless when they do it. I hope that I never have to elaborate on his personality from experience.

Yuffie is the self-proclaimed "Great Ninja Princess of Wutai" and is possibly the most obnoxious creature Kami-sama ever created. How she has survived this long without her team members killing her, or anyone else for that matter, I will never understand. At first I thought her insane, bubbly, peppy, fan-girlish behavior was just an act, like Reno's "I'm an immature, drunken playboy" act. No. It wasn't. That much I can personally attest to. If she ever comes within three worlds of me again, I may very well suicide.

Right. Moving on past that unpleasant…experience…

Aerith is the healer of the group. For the most part, she stays out of the fighting, although if she's needed she'll fight. I think that if there were ever even a slim chance for a truce that was fair to both sides, she'd be the first to suggest it to Sora. And Sora being Sora, he'd of course agree, if it meant peace and an end to the war. That's just the way he is. Aerith does tend to have very mothering qualities, I've noticed. That's the one way she's very different from Sora. While Sora wants to be everyone's friend, Aerith wants to look after them.

Then you have Tifa. She generally stays with Aerith, out of the fighting, but like Aerith, she can fight like a hellion if she needs to. She runs a bar near Aerith's flower shop. This is just how they stay in touch with the people and track down information without being TURKs or obviously fighters. I think their method is a bit easier than the "scare them into talking" routine that most of the others fighting for the Angels have developed. Granted, it works, but why go out of your way to get information when you can simply have it come to you?

Cid Highwind—the engineer. Uses a spear, has a tendency towards alcoholism and smoking, swears worse that a pirate. And I've heard pirates swearing. They can be pretty impressive, but they've got nothing on Cid. He even has a foul temper and an addiction to tea to go with the smoking and drinking.

Finally, there's Squall Leonhart, or as he prefers, Leon. There's almost nothing to be found on him except what he looks like, that his weapon is a gun-blade, and that he most assuredly know how to use it. Hells, there's more to be found on Vincent than there is on this guy. If I ever had to meet any of the Angels in person—besides Yuffie, I've already met her and would _not_ care for a repeat—I think it's him that I'm most curious about.

Everything I know about both sides is the result of very long, careful hours of research. At first it was just a hobby because I was curious, but I suppose at this point it's almost an obsession. But I suppose everyone has to have something to do. I mean, my best friend Hayner is obsessed with Struggle matches and beating Seifer, his enemy since childhood. Pence enjoys cooking with a passion, and Olette dances. I like knowing what's going on outside of the little hole otherwise known as Twilight Town that I decided to hide from the war in. My reasons for staying here are my own, but as I explained to Hayner, Pence, and Olette at one point, I hate being forced to choose between the people I care about and what I am, what I must do. I didn't get to make the choice for myself before, but I see no reason why I can never be allowed to be myself. As long as I am not involved in the war, then I won't have to choose.

You see, while I am able to pass as human because I don't set off any of the alarms for Angel or Daemon, I'm possibly the farthest thing from human. I don't set off any alarms because the readings for either one don't go high enough to be set off. I'm not Angel, or Daemon—I'm both.

That's why I don't want to get involved in the war. Because I know, eventually, I'd have to choose one side or the other, and I can't. Not can't as in, I refuse to make the choice. Can't as in, it is not possible. If I tried to fight directly for one side or the other, it would kill me. I either have to accept both sides (which would get me slaughtered) or reject both sides (which would also get me slaughtered).

Great set of choices there, don't you think? Choice one: die. Choice two: die. So I created a choice three. Stay out of it.

Maybe that's why I get along so well with normal humans—I'm about as useful in an Angel/Daemon fight as one. So I stay in Twilight Town for now, on Heionbuji, and watch the war. If it ever gets too close to where I am, I move. Twilight Town is the place I've stayed the longest since I turned twelve and found out what I was. I've been here a whole year and a half now. At first, I was hopping from world to world every few days, then every few weeks, then months. Now this.

I don't know why it makes me nervous that nothing's happened in so long. Call it paranoia if you will, but…. I've already set up to fix this—I told the gang to meet me at the Usual Spot tomorrow. I plan on telling them that my parents are going to be on the move again for a while, and I have to go with them. I hate lying to them, but I can't risk putting them in danger because of what I am. Normally, Dusks and Heartless would have started turning up by now. I would have taken care of them and moved on to another world quietly, checking on the world I left every now and then to make sure the Heartless and Dusks didn't decide to turn back up. It's really not that hard to slide something like that under the Angel/Daemon radar. It's just a matter of timing and not leaving footprints.

I'll probably go to Sekai Fuhen, stay in Traverse Town for a while. As long as I stay clear of Hollow Bastion and Radiant Garden, I should be alright. The Angels and Daemons both tend to stick to their own strongholds when they aren't fighting.

I should close this and go to bed. Even if it is to keep me from going insane for lack of anyone to talk to, a nikki (journal) isn't going to help if I go insane anyway for lack of sleep.

Oh—I never did state my name, did I?

My name is Roxas Strife, unknown half-brother to Cloud and Sora Strife.

Pleased to meet you.

_**...**_

Stupid...freakin'...line-break...&#&()(#!&...

Okay, just to clear some things up...

The world names are typically going to be in Japanese, and thanks to one helpful review I realized that I forgot to include translations of the names. Kind of silly of me, I know, but here they are now.

Heionbuji tranquility and peace. Makes sense that Roxas would stay there if he's trying to stay out of a war, doesn't it?

Fuhen impartiality, fairness, neutrality. It occurred to me that Traverse Town would have to be a very neutral and fair place for it to have so many different people from different worlds pass through. Perhaps not the best place for poor possibly-soon-to-be-traumatized-if-he-isn't-already Roxas to hide, but hey, he hasn't been there in a while, so no one will recognize him. Probably.

Sekai world. It's just the prefix that I'm using to define a world rather than a town. So when I'm talking about a world, _sekai_ will almost always be attached. When it's a town, it will be Fill-in-the-Blank Town (the key here is the suffix Town).

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, especially TsukiNoOkamiHime! I'd somehow managed to get Xaldin and Xigbar mixed up, and left one of them off almost completely.

New chapter should be up by the end of next week at the latest, so I hope you like the chapter. My muse is allowing me to add a certain mohawked blonde and our favorite redhead to the mix already, and while Roxas doesn't seem to mind the other blonde too much, I'm afraid the same can't really be said for the other one...

If you haven't reviewed already, please feel free to do so. I won't demand reviews when I have a terrible tendency to forget to review other people's stories, but reviews are awfully nice to have, aren't they?

Until the next chapter (which will be up soon, hopefully),

-Aiko and Azami


	2. Author's Note: IMPORTANT!

Hi everyone. This is Aiko. Yes, I'm Azami's sister.

I know a lot of you are wondering what the hell happened with Chuushin? Is Beloved and Defiance not going to update after the prologue? Did she lose interest already? Wasn't Azami supposed to update, like, a month ago? Seriously, WTF?

No, she hasn't lost interest. Anything but, actually. Yes, she was going to update. She's still writing.

Azami is in the hospital. She was hit in the head with a sixty-pound pole and received a rather nasty concussion. She didn't wake up for nearly two weeks. Now, though, she is recovering—hopefully the hospital will let her come home before Christmas. She's currently not allowed out of her wing of the hospital, and noise makes her head hurt a hell of a lot so she generally doesn't venture past the bathroom.

She's been writing out of boredom, is annoyed that she can't even play the majority of her instruments right now because they're simply too loud, and for the most part she's been sleeping a lot. She can't quite remember some things and the doctors are worried because she's lost nearly thirty pounds since she's been in the hospital, and she was only 120 to begin with. It's not as if she hasn't been eating, either, and she's not bulimic or anorexic if anyone's wondering.

She has asked, however, that I type her stories for her and post them, including Chuushin when I find her flash drive. She did post a note to the readers at the bottom of the prologue before the incident, though, so those of you that haven't read it yet probably should.

And once again, she says she still sends a big thank-you and cookie to Tsuki no Ookami for her advice on the prologue.

See you guys again soon.

- Aiko

Date: 11/29/08


	3. Author's Note 2

Right. Um, hi. The name's Jadyn. Azami is now in a coma because she was in a car accident on the way back from the hospital, and Aiko turned the account over to me. We don't know if she'll wake up or not, but according to the doctors it doesn't look good. Aiko says she just can't mess with any of it right now, and she feels really bad...I mean, Azami just got out of the hospital and is in a coma, but Aiko broke her arm. So, until she's out of the hospital and gives some sign that she wants to write again, I'll be taking care of the account for Azami.

Well, really that's about it. Well, one more thing.

**Note:** Chuushin will not be updated unless I am told to do otherwise. It's not my story, so I'm not going to take liberties with it. If Aiko gives me something to post beyond this message, I will post it with lots of hearts and kisses all over it just for you. Otherwise, I think Azami would kill me for taking over her story when she wakes up.

People, _please_ drive safely. Think of the other people that get hurt in the accident - it won't always be just you.

If the account us "officially" turned over to me - and I really hope it isn't - then the name will probably change. So if a notice comes up and it's not from Beloved and Defiance, then you know what happened.

The same note is posted on the profile, but there's a bit more info if you're curious. Hope everyone stays safe and really hope Azami's back with you guys soon. With luck, you won't hear from me again.


	4. Final

Azami...won't be coming back. I've known this for about three weeks now, but I couldn't do anything Azami-chan related because I'd start crying. Hell, I couldn't even go to symphony practice or play any instruments or sing or anything. Aiko's worse off though...

For those of you that haven't known, Azami and Aiko were the former holders of this account, when it was named Beloved and Defiance. There was a car accident shortly after Azami left the hospital from the first coma (she was hit in the head) and Aiko broke her arm. Azami sustained damage that was considerably more extensive, however, and she went back into a coma. She woke up for about four hours on January 22, 2009 before she went back to sleep. She never woke up.

People, _please_ drive safely. Think of the other people that get hurt in the accident - it won't always be just you.

I intend to keep writing, in her memory if nothing else. I only hope that I can be as good as she was.

It's kind of odd...we never really appreciate what we have until it's gone. I remember visiting her when she was in the hospital after she got hit in the head, and we were talking about what we thought was most important. Dunno how we got to talking about it, but....

For me, I told her that it would probably be my music and my friends. She just kind of smiled the way she did whenever she was being serious about something and was about to say something important, and said:

"Well, I think it would have to be...honor. I mean, if I can protect my family, friends, and what is most important, then I don't really think I need or want anything else. Maybe I'm a little weird for saying something like that, but I always thought that as long as I knew everyone was safe and happy then so was I. Is that too weird?"

I told her that it wasn't weird or anything, just different. She laughed.

I never did really understand her that well, but she was a blessing to everyone that knew her.

This will be the last thing posted to Chuushin. I will try to take up writing myself…soon. It'll be a few weeks, but….soon. I think I owe Azami that much – to write and do better with the music.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone….


End file.
